Paul Goes Fishing
by Michel Rabagliati
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 49)
Read in June, 2008
Further proof that Michel Rabagliati is one of the most gifted storytellers & illustrators working in the comics biz today. The story picks up not long after "Paul Moves Out" leaves off, with Paul and his wife Lucie headed out to the countryside to spend a week with his sister-in-law and her family at a lakeside cabin, where Paul goes fishing and reflects on his teenage years and impending fatherhood. As in the previous volumes, story is not the key appeal -- not much happens but l...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
people that like comics
This book isn't about fishing, but it is really, really good. It's the best comic I've read this year (and better than most stuff from 2007).
Michel Rabagliati's proxy character Paul's a bit more grown up than in Paul Moves Out. He and his partner are expecting their first kid, and are celebrating their fortune with a summer vacation to a fishing resort (though they don't even own a fishing rod). The first three quarters of the book...more
Michel Rabagliati's proxy character Paul's a bit more grown up than in Paul Moves Out. He and his partner are expecting their first kid, and are celebrating their fortune with a summer vacation to a fishing resort (though they don't even own a fishing rod). The first three quarters of the book...more
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Read in March, 2008
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in June, 2008
While this volume has the emotional depth of previous entries in the series, the title is misleading--Paul Has a Summer Job was about Paul's summer job; Paul Moves Out was similarly exactly what you'd expect. In this case, Paul's fishing trip isn't the point of the story do much as an opportunity for Paul to reminisce about his teen years and reflect on what his life was like. His conclusions are sweet, heartwarming, and ... generous? somehow, in how he views--and viewed--...more
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recommends it for:
20-30 somethings
Similar in emotional impact to the Catcher ‘N the Rye novel that Paul, the main character, affectionatelyA46dd71cb9305b clutches to, Paul Goes Fishing is subtle and understated. Yet, it reveals deep truths of life with a power that is probably only truly felt days after completing the final page. Michel Rabagliati returns us to the life of Paul for the fourth time, taking Paul out into the country for a fishing holiday. The action and story line itself is straightforward, clearing the way fo...more
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Read in June, 2008
I liked this, a lot.
I share many values with Paul, and the story telling in the Paul books is rich and complex without being confusing or overdone.
I loved the undercurrent of parents and children running through the book, especially when Paul remembers a childhood fishing trip with his father gone wrong.
Great illustrations, as always, simple but completely expressive.
That said, it's time to put a moratorium on anything to do with babies. Babies, geesh.
I share many values with Paul, and the story telling in the Paul books is rich and complex without being confusing or overdone.
I loved the undercurrent of parents and children running through the book, especially when Paul remembers a childhood fishing trip with his father gone wrong.
Great illustrations, as always, simple but completely expressive.
That said, it's time to put a moratorium on anything to do with babies. Babies, geesh.
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Read in March, 2008
This semiautobiographical graphic novel is all about family. The first storyline recounts a vacation to a cabin in the woods; the second concerns the travails of the author and his wife as they attempt to conceive (she has two miscarraiges). The main character, Paul, is free of the existential hate/self-pity common in graphic novel memoirs, where the protagonist is either a misunderstood misfit and/or an exotic bird in a world full of crows.
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Read in April, 2008
The main story line is great, but what really got to me are all the amazing tangents Rabagliati takes. Among these is a concise critique of the ubiquity of computers in just about all areas of life. I read that part during my lunch on one of the rare sunny afternoons we've had lately. It just about killed me to have to return to a windowless room and stare at a computer screen for the rest of the work day.
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Read in June, 2008
He is so good at this. The pace, the rhythm- it's really perfect. And in a story that can appear directionless, he never loses track of his forward momentum.
I really love the story, too. It's about becoming a grownup, and how it isn't always as easy as blithely deciding to. In some ways, what I got from the story is that life isn't a story, that things happen that aren't fair, and don't seem right.
I really love the story, too. It's about becoming a grownup, and how it isn't always as easy as blithely deciding to. In some ways, what I got from the story is that life isn't a story, that things happen that aren't fair, and don't seem right.
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Read in July, 2008
recommended to Amanda by:
rushed library field triprecommends it for: Brooke Askew
I read this on a camping trip. The whole cabin atmosphere reverberated. Also the book is about babies and there was a weird expectation/ dynamic being with my lover's family at the cabin for a week. All our mothers want grandkids, los siento mamas, los siento.
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Read in April, 2008
The librarian recommended this comic book to me. It was lovely--mostly a meandering, realistic story about a young Quebecois couple who go on vacation in the country with their relatives. The final quarter of the book focuses on their struggles to have a child.
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Canadians are funny...there are other adventures of Paul that come before his fishing trip that I want to read. I am still not quite sure how Rabagliati got from the fishing vilage to the tragedy of 3 miscarriages...hmmm
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Clean, concise linework that leaves you with the feeling of 1950s. Very Herge's Tin-Tin. A semi-autobiographic (I'm guessing) graphic novel that has moments of poignancy. It is really well done.
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I just love the Paul books so much.
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